Speed garage

Speed garage (occasionally known as plus-8^[1]) is a genre of electronic dance music, associated with the UK garage scene, of which it is regarded as one of its subgenres.^[2]

Speed garage
Stylistic origins	Garage house jungle music
Cultural origins	Early to mid-1990s, United Kingdom and United States
Derivative forms	Bassline donk
Other topics
UK hard house

Characteristics

Speed garage features sped-up NY garage 4-to-the-floor rhythms that are combined with breakbeats.^[3] Snares are placed as over the 2nd and the 4th kickdrums, so in other places of the drum pattern.^[4] Speed garage tunes have warped, heavy basslines, influenced by jungle^[5] and reggae.^[6] Sweeping bass is typical for speed garage.^[7] It is also typical for speed garage tunes to have a breakdown.^[8] Speed garage tunes sometimes featured time-stretched vocals.^[9] As it is heavily influenced by jungle, speed garage makes heavy use of jungle and dub sound effects, such as gunshots and sirens.^[10][11]

Resurgence in the 2020s

In the early 2020s, speed garage experienced a notable resurgence within the UK music scene. This renewed interest in speed garage has been accompanied by a broader UK garage revival.^[12]

The release of "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)" by Interplanetary Criminal and Eliza Rose in 2022. The track achieved the number one spot on the UK Singles Chart.^[13] In November 2024, Interplanetary Criminal teamed up with Sammy Virji to release "Damager".^[14]

Notable songs/remixes

The following is a list of notable songs and official remixes which not only charted but were popular within the speed garage scene:

• "Let's Groove" (1993) – George Morel^[13]
• "Dancing for Heaven" (1995) / "Saved My Life" (1996) – Todd Edwards
• "Sugar Is Sweeter (Armand's Drum 'n' Bass Mix)" (1996) / "Spin Spin Sugar (Armand's Dark Garage Mix)"^[13] (1997) / "Digital (Armand Van Helden's Speed Garage Mix)" (1997) – Armand van Helden
• "Gunman" (1997) / "Kung-Fu" (1998) – 187 Lockdown
• "Deeper" (1997) / "God Is a DJ (Serious Danger Remix)" (1998) – Serious Danger
• "Hype Funk (Dub)" (1997) – Reach & Spin
• "RipGroove" (1997) – Double 99
• "Vol. 1 (What You Want What You Need)" (1997) – Industry Standard
• "I Refuse (What You Want)" (1997) – Somore featuring Damon Trueitt
• "Oh Boy" (1997) – The Fabulous Baker Boys
• "A London Thing" (1997) – Scott Garcia
• "Something Goin' On (Loop Da Loop Uptown / Downtown Mix)" (1997) – Loop Da Loop
• "Ripped in 2 Minutes" (1998) – A vs B
• "Superstylin'" (2001) – Groove Armada